If you feel self-conscious about tinted teeth, your dentist can help enhance your appearance and boost your confidence with professional teeth whitening solutions. Many offer both in-office procedures and customized take-home kits so that you can choose the most convenient way to brighten your grin.
But you’ll need to take a few simple precautions to avoid additional discoloration and potential sensitivity after treatment, including steering clear of potentially problematic foods. Continue reading to learn more about 3 things to avoid to help maintain the results!
Food #1: Coffee or Tea
If you’re like an estimated 66% of American adults, you enjoy at least one cup of coffee or tea in the morning to help wake you up and motivate you to get moving. Although these caffeinated beverages can be delicious and invigorating, they can also stain your enamel.
This is because they contain tannins, which are darkly pigmented particles that give them their bitter flavor and tone. They cling to the protective outer layer of your teeth and can even give other darkly shaded particles a surface to cling to, causing additional discoloration that can be difficult to remove. If you’re looking for a smile-friendly alternative, you might try caffeinated sparkling water instead.
Food #2: Citrus Fruits
The bleach contained in teeth whitening can sometimes cause temporary sensitivity because it expands the microscopic pores in your enamel. As a result, sensations like hot and cold can travel more easily through the enamel and underlying dentin, triggering the tender nerves in the pulp.
Certain foods, like citrus fruits, can worsen discomfort because of their acidity, especially right after your cosmetic treatment. The citric acid in oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruits can thin your enamel and might trigger sharp pangs when you bite into anything too hot, cold, spicy, sweet, or crunchy. You may want to avoid these fruits for at least a week or two to help prevent additional discomfort.
Food #3: Berries
Many different berries, like blackberries, blueberries, cranberries, and raspberries, contain different water-soluble pigments called anthocyanins, which give them their vivid red and blue hues. Although these small fruits look beautiful on a bush, they are also infamous for staining everything from fingers to your clothes to your teeth. Avoiding them for a couple of weeks after bleaching can help you preserve your recent treatment results.
But eating a nutritious diet is essential for maintaining your oral and overall health. Thankfully, lightly colored foods, like chicken, eggs, rice, plain pasta, plain or vanilla yogurt, milk, cheese, bananas, apples, pears, and cauliflower can help you feel full without staining your smile!
Meet the Author
Dr. David Parsons is a talented provider with 40+ years of experience helping improve patients’ lives by enhancing their smiles. He followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a dentist and earned his dental doctorate at Baylor School of Dentistry. Today, he remains committed to continuing education so he can offer a full menu of services, including teeth whitening, using advanced technology for beautiful, long-lasting results. If you want to improve your appearance, you can request a cosmetic consultation on the website or call (620) 221-0730.